"“Rising minimum wages will hurt the hiring of the least-experienced, least-skilled and lowest-wage workers. That means it hits more harmfully in the lower-wage rural areas, as well as in the retail, restaurant and bar sectors. It is also not a good antipoverty policy—our estimate of a nationwide increase to $15 is that only 7% of the benefits of higher wages go to those in poverty.”"
"Because human nature doesn’t change, the fundamental art and science of managing human beings doesn’t change either – but you wouldn’t know it from reading the popular business press.Trechos retirados de "Technology Changes, Good Management Doesn’t"
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“[J]ust as the essence of medicine is not urinalysis (important though that is), the essence of management is not techniques and procedures,” wrote Drucker. “The essence of management is to make [people and their expertise] productive. Management, in other words, is a social function.”
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Direct all of the organization’s work toward making strength productive and weakness irrelevant. On the organization’s behalf, this means holding every measure of effort, whether time, talent or treasure, accountable for the results it must produce in order to justify its expenditure. It is not enough to do something because it is traditional or “smart” or safe."
"Marketplace is great for customers because it adds unique selection, and it’s great for sellers – there are over 70,000 entrepreneurs with sales of more than $100,000 a year selling on Amazon, and they’ve created over 600,000 new jobs.
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We also created the Amazon Lending program to help sellers grow. Since the program launched, we’ve provided aggregate funding of over $1.5 billion to micro, small and medium businesses across the U.S., U.K. and Japan through short-term loans, with a total outstanding loan balance of about $400 million. Stephen Aarstol, surfer and owner of Tower Paddle Boards, is one beneficiary. His business has become one of the fastest-growing companies in San Diego, in part with a little help from Amazon Lending. Click-to-cash access to capital helps these small enterprises grow, benefits customers with greater selection, and benefits Amazon since our marketplace revenue grows along with the sellers’ sales. We hope to expand Amazon Lending and are now working on ways to partner with banks so they can use their expertise to take and manage the bulk of the credit risk."
Good morning from Berlin. Germans lose €200bn b/c of low interest rates. The Expropriation of the saver in WamS. pic.twitter.com/OpZDqnCLgk— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) April 10, 2016
"Duma ponta à outra, o que é que pode correr mal?"E o meu consciente murmura:
"Quais são os riscos?"Got it?
"Nestas coisas, há um princípio de que nunca devemos abdicar: nunca acreditar quando um governante ou um decisor do Estado diz que alguma coisa vai ser gratuita ou mais barata. O que ele está a querer dizer é que a factura vai ser camuflada e paga por outros. Os contribuintes, obviamente."Trecho retirado de "Gratuito? Não acredite porque alguém vai pagar a factura"
"Located near busy Cardiff and Swansea, Port Talbot’s 4,300 workers are luckier than those in other declining industrial towns around Britain. But finding jobs in Cardiff’s thriving business-services sector, for example, will be difficult for former steelworkers. The government will need to spend serious money retraining them, helping them into new employment and improving transport links to big cities. Spending to keep the plant itself in business would just prolong the inevitable."Algum media tradicional em Portugal, a começar pelos so-called jornais económicos, seria capaz de fazer um título e um artigo como este?
"O desafio é este: saber quem faz e como faz as roupas que vestimos."BTW, custa-me a engolir esta frase:
"Uma das indústrias que mais fomenta esta pobreza é precisamente a indústria da moda, a terceira mais lucrativa do mundo."Pelo contrário, a indústria do têxtil e vestuário tem arrancado milhões de pessoas da pobreza!
"Apesar da quebra das exportações com Angola, [Moi ici: As exportações para Angola caíram 44% no acumulado do ano face ao período homólogo do ano passado] Manuel Caldeira Cabral salientou que, ao contrário, as exportações cresceram para outros mercados, dando o exemplo dos Estados Unidos da América." [Moi ici: Analisando os dados do INE verifica-se que as exportações para os Estados Unidos caíram 10% no acumulado do ano face ao período homólogo do ano passado]As incoerências:
"O ministro da Economia disse estar insatisfeito com o aumento este ano do défice da balança comercial em 206 milhões de euros, após conhecer os dados das importações e exportações hoje divulgados."[Moi ici: Então a política do governo não é aumentar o consumo? Só em automóveis foram mais 152 milhões de euros face ao mesmo período do ano passado. Apetece escrever: Duh!]As coisas boas dos números do INE (escrevo com base na comparação do acumulado do ano de 2016 com o de 2015):
"Quando uma organização internacional, [Moi ici: FMI] especializada em programas de apoio económico em situações de crise, julga necessário chamar a atenção para o que deveria ser óbvio, é porque identifica uma persistente resistência dos responsáveis políticos por essa economia quando se trata de reconhecer o óbvio.
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O óbvio só é surpreendente ou paradoxal para quem se recusa a vê-lo. Devia ser óbvio que onde não houver capital também não haverá trabalho. Também devia ser óbvio que substituir capital por dívida entrega aos credores o poder de decidir sobre a vida e a morte da empresa e do emprego.
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Quem escolhe ignorar o óbvio está a produzir o impossível - que só pode servir para esconder as razões que levam a não aceitar o que o óbvio mostra."
"This week, Staples announced that it won't be using its stores for just selling anymore.
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As consumers get more comfortable with e-commerce, marketers are finding they need to imbue their brick-and-mortar operations with updated missions.
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Called an "unstore," the site, the electronics company's only consumer outpost, exists solely to display products. If customers want to buy something, they can do so online.
"People know how to purchase on e-commerce and very often get the product the next day," said Zach Overton, VP and general manager of the new space, called Samsung 837. "They don't need another store. They need a place where they can have a deep dive into the brand."
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a retail outlet that in the past would have been designed solely to drive purchases in the moment can now function entirely as a brand advertisement. These concept stores allow customers to test products, interact with associates and, ideally, better understand the ethos of the brand. With real estate costs at a premium in key urban areas, the sites also allow a retailer to better use every square foot and not waste precious space on on-site stockrooms.
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"Customer experience is becoming more influential in shaping people's expectations," said Denise Lee Yohn, a branding consultant, noting that such stores function as intensive, immersive storytellers that can convey a brand's history, attributes and future vision. "It's allowing the brand to say more about itself than just saying, 'Here is this product.'"
"But as SpoonRocket's case demonstrates, simply having millions of dollars in funding and revenue does not a successful startup make.
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They were too reliant on VCs
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Many startups are lulled into a false sense of security by VC funding, particularly when they're hyper-focused on customer acquisition--and it seems likely this was the case with SpoonRocket.
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Their market was oversaturated
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In SpoonRocket's farewell blog post, the founders state that one of their biggest challenges was "intense competition from competitors
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Their differentiating factor... wasn't
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They failed to scale up
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They didn't invest in their drivers
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As with many on-demand startups, SpoonRocket's human point of contact with consumers was also, arguably, the least valued part of the business. The company's drivers were independent contractors who were expected to work irregular hours for low pay --hardly a strategy for building a committed workforce."
"1. Stay positive and choose your beliefsYour beliefs shape your reality and your world: beliefs about yourself, what you’re good at, ... People who are good at change are optimists at their core.Não se deixar contaminar pelos Pigarros desta vida é fundamental.
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2. The change guaranteeThis states that, "From this situation, something good will come." Write this down somewhere you will see it often. Write it in your office for others to see. ... be obsessed with your attitude, how you show up—especially in the midst of change. ... they are not focused on the past (the deal they did not get or the bad decision they made); they do not compare themselves to others; they do not play the "poor me" game (how unlucky they have been); and they keep a sense of newness and momentum.
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4. Meet the change demons!People who are good at change are very human; they make mistakes, they feel their emotions, but know how to move past them. ... Find the emotion that is stronger—for example, instead of blaming someone for the major mess-up that happened, how can you take responsibility for fixing it?
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5. Accept changeChange itself is not the hard part; resistance to the change is.
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- What do you need to stop resisting? (e.g. changing the business model)
- What do you need to get honest about? (e.g. your overspending)
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- What are you avoiding? (e.g. firing someone you know is not working out)
6. You can’t control everythingDo not try and control other people. Instead, control your language and the words you use; ... Your inner state is the only thing you really can control.
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9. Take action...
When it comes to action, it is the small changes that create the bigger results, over and over. Little things are not little for the entrepreneur—they are everything. If something does not work, continue changing your approach. Do not simply think about it—get on the court and try it. You will get feedback very soon."
Segundo, "Lisboa lança rendas acessíveis para jovens com rendimentos até 40 mil euros ano"Alguns meses depois de definir "classe média" como alguém que ganhe 900€/mês, o PS quer subsidiar a habitação de quem ganha 2000.— Lourenço Cordeiro (@_lourenco_c) April 7, 2016
Eheh os mesmos q andam em eracção psicológica com a Web Summit em Lx são os mesmos q estão contra a gentrificação de Lx. Definam-se— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) October 6, 2015
"it was the ability of japan black to dry quickly that made it a favorite of early mass-produced automobiles such as Henry Ford's Model T. The Ford company's reliance on japan black led Henry Ford to quip "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black".Recordar "Preço ou custo?"
While other colors were available for automotive finishes, early colored variants of automotive lacquers could take up to 14 days to cure, whereas japan black would cure in 48 hours or less."
"E os preços são mais baratos que nas lojas acima referidas. Ou seja, encontrei uma loja que associa conhecimento especializado a um preço mais baixo... que mais pode um cliente pedir?"Por que recordei novamente a Tavares?
"What drives us isn’t offering products at the lowest cost. We have never, and will never, win on price. And we don’t want to, thank you very much. That’s a race to the bottom that offers no prize.A gestão da Tavares tentou iludir o Evangelho do Valor.
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What does drive us continues to be that customer who comes through the door in search of answers for her aching feet; the customer who comes to us looking for help in setting a new personal record; or the customer who shows up on a cold Tuesday night to his training program, ready to run a mile without stopping for the first time in his life.
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It’s those moments, when our expertise, our passion, and our conviction that running is the foundation of a healthy and happy lifestyle create an in-person experience that isn’t transactional, it’s transcendental. It is, and can be, a life-changing experience.
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f you look hard enough, you will always find something cheaper. But I'll gladly pay extra for excellent customer service and human interaction. It’s what I genuinely believe, and it’s a bet I continue to make when it comes to what our customers believe, too.
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They come to us for inspiration, information, and yes, insight, that can’t be accessed online. As long as we provide that insight and that transcendental experience, we’ll outlast any sale every time."
"While those "Uber for X" startups seek to distance themselves from the driving, cleaning, and delivering they facilitate, instead functioning only as a technology layer on top of other businesses, Slate fully believes that it is a cleaning and laundry company. "We’re not techies,"Como escreve Geoff Colvin em "Humans are Underrated":
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"There is no doubt to us that if we want to be successful, and if we want to be in the cleaning of clothes business, then we have to own that business," he says. "It’s very difficult to get the kind of consistent quality that you need to provide to keep customers without doing it yourself."[Moi ici: Mais do que "own that business" para mim é o own the interaction step, own the contact step, own the connection step, own the co-criation step, own the bond step]
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While the first generation of "on-demand" companies had a business model similar to the one made famous by Uber, many new service-sector startups are instead launching, or pivoting toward, a philosophy more aligned with Slate.
These entrepreneurs are not launching technology companies or even "on demand" companies. They are instead starting child-care companies, retail stores, restaurants, and laundry services that use mobile technology not only for delivery, but as a way to be more efficient at every step of their operations.
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"There are a lot of companies that can do delivery, but there’s not a lot of value-add. It’s just logistics. What we’re adding is a human connection. That’s really hard to do. That’s the missing link in a digital world.""
"The most valuable people are increasingly relationship workers"E a sua PME, ainda que não esteja no mundo da tecnologia (e devia pensar seriamente nisso, lembre-se do "é meter código nisso") o que é que faz pela interacção?
"The underlying premise of any organization is to create value. Historically, firms have done so through engineering ever greater efficiency. By honing internal processes, optimizing the supply chain and reducing product inventories, managers could improve margins and create a sustainable competitive advantage.Trechos retirados de "The One Big Reason Every Business Needs To Embrace Complexity"
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That’s created a bias for simple, linear thinking. Adding extra variables to any process is bound to increase errors and diminish quality, so generations of managers have been trained to wring complexity out of the system in order to create streamlined operations. “Keep it simple, stupid” has become a common corporate mantra.
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Yet in today’s networked marketplace, agility trumps efficiency.
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managers need to embrace complexity. Not because it will make their enterprise more efficient - it won’t - but because that’s what will allow them to create maximum value in an increasingly complex marketplace."
"The underlying premise of any organization is to create value.[Moi ici: As organizações criam recursos que podem ser usados pelos clientes para eles criarem valor, as organizações podem, quando muito, co-criar valor em interacção com os clientes. Recordar o caso das "Águas de Monchique"]
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Innovation has become the primary driver of value".[Moi ici: Acredito que o "primary driver of value" é a interacção entre a organização e um cliente individual]
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